This course will offer fascinating insight into the world of English Renaissance drama and will provide an analysis of social views on women, power and sexuality, from the Church to the Courts of Elizabeth I and James I. Renaissance women, as portrayed in art, literature and treatises, were perceived as innately sinful and needing to be silenced – to be submissive, modest, and chaste – and subjugated to the male head of the household in all matters legal, social and physical. But many women were also in positions of authority and exerted power over the national and familial sphere through their actions and their dignity in defiance of stereotypes and persecution. By examining contemporary views of women set against critical readings of Paulina and Hermione in The Winter’s Tale and the duchess in The Duchess of Malfi, we will see how drama created space for depictions of women’s strength, stoicism, agency and solidarity.
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